Pather Panchali: Song of the Road (A Bengali Novel: UNESCO Collection of… (vuoden 1975 painos)

> Avec Rabindranath Tagore et Saratchandra Chatterji, Banerji est l’un des plus grands romanciers du Bengale. Comment oublier l’enfant Apou une fois le livre refermé ? Comment oublier sa soeur aînée, Dourga, qui meurt si jeune de maladie ? Comment oublier cette famille de brahmanes, pauvre entre les pauvres, vivant dans un village écarté du Bengale ? Satyajit Ray les a immortalisés dans sa trilogie Pather Panchali, Aparajito et Apur Sansar. Mais l’art du romancier est tout aussi magnifique : il introduit son lecteur dans un autre temps, le temps des saisons et des orages de mousson, celui des travaux et des jours, au fil traditionnel des fêtes et des deuils. L’enfant a de lentes extases, comme tous les enfants du monde, mais alors son monde minuscule, en apparence si loin de la modernité, prend une dimension universelle ; les divinités et les héros des épopées viennent le visiter et il rêve de conquérir l’univers en quittant son village par la rivière si connue vers un ailleurs très vaste.
C’est un roman splendide, fait des choses les plus simples. --Revue Française de Yoga

This Bengali classic, basis for the famous movie of the same name, is the portrayal of the day-to-day life in an impoverished village at the turn of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of a young boy, Opu, and his adored older sister Durga.

In the forward to the edition I read, the translator states:

"Tagore... Presents village life nostalgically as an ideal condition which the modern age is fast losing. In Pather Panchali the village is not idealized; it is not explained or commented on; it is presented as it is, objectively at times, but more often subjectively, by the people who live in it, and more particularly by the two children. There is little formal description. It is not necessary to describe the things one lives with every day; one knows them, as the reader comes to know the village of Nishchindipur, through familiarity."

The novel is episodic; sometimes just an hour has elapsed between chapters, sometimes years. I was fascinated to learn, reading between the lines, what it meant to be of the Brahmin caste in India at that time. Opu's family is Brahmin, but very poor. Their father is a scholar, and earns small amounts infrequently providing his services at religious or other ceremonial events. Most of the time, the family is hungry, and their ramshackle dwelling is falling apart around them. Nevertheless, their Brahmin status gives them certain privileges and status. Again, the poverty and circumstances of Opu's life are just givens--this is not a social document, just the life of one small boy.

Here's a taste of the tone of the book. Opu has been reading in one of his father's ancient volumes a description of the properties of mercury:

"If you put some Mercury in a vulture's egg and leave it in the sun for a few days, and then hold it in the mouth, you can fly high in the sky.
"Opu could not believe his eyes. He read the passage again and again.....
"Astonishing! It was so easy to fly and yet nobody knew about it. Perhaps nobody had a copy of this book except his father. Or it might be that all this time nobody's eye except his own had lighted on this particular place in the book.
"He thrust his nose in the book again and smelt it. That same old smell. It never occurred to him to question the truth of what was written in such a book."

Highly recommended. 5 stars ( )

It's a pathetic story of life.Heart touching :| ( )

It's a pathetic story of life.Heart touching :| ( )

From BBC Radio 4 - Classical Serial:
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's classic of Bengali literature, dramatised by Tanika Gupta ( )